There is a profound difference between being a peacemaker and compromising with evil. While we should love every person, we must never be unclear about our stance toward sin and evil. At times Christians are more concerned with “fitting in” or not “making waves” than they are about upholding righteousness. In our efforts to be peaceable, we inadvertently make compromises. God did not call us to make friends with darkness. He called us to be salt and light. If we are not careful we will dim our light so it does not offend our dark friends.
Jehoshaphat was a good man who chose to see the best in people. He may have disdained conflict. Or, he may have mistakenly assumed that unity is always the highest good. The result was an alliance with one of the wickedest leaders of the ages. He even entered an alliance of marriage with the wicked king Ahab. Just as Jesus declared that people were either for Him or against Him, so when it comes to evil there is no neutral ground. We either hate what God hates, or we love it.
While Jehoshaphat was able to guard his heart from the evil of Ahab, his children could not. His son Jehoram was married to Ahab’s daughter (2 Chronicles 21:6). Jehoram ruled not as his righteous father had, but in the evil ways of his father-in-law Ahab. He butchered his own brothers and acted wickedly. Jehoram’s wife Athaliah would later massacre Jehoshaphat’s grandchildren in order to gain power for herself (2 Chronicles 22:10). Could Jehoshaphat have dreamed that his partnership with an ungodly leader would lead to the massacre of his children and grandchildren? The seeds of his spiritual carelessness led to a devastating harvest among his descendants. Do you truly hate what God hates?